Shiree Kitchen . Room 116 . skitchen@alpine.k12.ut.us . 801-756-8531 281 N 200 E American Fork, UT 84003

Friday, March 10, 2017

March 19th


Dear Parents,
         This week we finished our unit on 3-digit addition with regrouping. The students did a fabulous job. We also took a test on number sense to the hundreds. We had fun in math figuring out how big Abraham’ Lincoln’s cabin was in inches, feet, yards, centimeters and meters. This week we are starting on subtracting 3 digit numbers with regrouping. Your child may need a little help at home on this concept.
         We have been working on a weather unit and are making a weather book in Science. Our goal is to complete the weather book and pretend to be a meteorologist and predict the weather in a big city of the continents we have been studying.
         I am sending home word list of the first phonic principles with some students who have not mastered the first part of the phonic evaluation. If your child brought one of these list homes will you please review it with them.  If you get a list we already have gone over it and they did pass it in class, but it is one of the word patterns they missed on the phonic evaluation.
         We are still to working on our Twisted Fairy Tales. The students have had an excellent week being respectful. We had the heart light on and they have earned lots of money for their behavior.  It is such a pleasure to be their teacher.

P.S. We are hopping to have a visit from the Leprechaun. 
He has visited my class for 28 years.

Friday, March 3, 2017

March 3rd


Dear Parents,
This week each student was evaluated on their understanding of phonics and reading strategies using a multiple-choice test and writing short answers. We then went over the test and tried to learn good test taking strategies.  We determined that the best strategy to work on right now is to go back to the text and find the answered rather than just guessing.  We read several different plays that were twisted fairytales than we started writing twisted fairytales.  In math we started addition regrouping to the hundreds. The students really caught on fast. We had our feast of canned beans, corn and fruit cocktail for our study on Antarctica. 

Friday, February 17, 2017

Feb. 17th


We have had a fun week reading many different folktales from around the world. I told them we were going to write a folktale together for writing, but they all wanted to write their own. Some of the topics they came up with were “How Raccoons Got Their Mask”, “Why Flower Smell”, and “Why Elks Got Their Horns”. In math we have been reviewing number sense in preparation for learning 3-digit addition.  We also have started to publish or writing papers on the similarities and differences of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  Thank you to Mrs. Fielding and Mrs. Jones for planning a fantastic Valentines Party.

Friday, February 10, 2017

Feb. 10th


Dear Parents,
Thank you for coming to Parents Day. I really enjoyed visiting with each one of you. We have finished our unit on subtraction, but we will be continuing to review it. We have started a unit on measurement. As part of our unit we are making life size portraits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. We will compare how tall each of the students’ are to our President’s portraits.  We will be having a Valentine Party on Tuesday. We will make paper sack folders to put our valentines in. Some student still like to make boxes at home. You can do this, but it is not required. There are 20 students in our class. It is quickest to just have your student write their name on the Valentine, but I sent home notes for those who want to address each individual student.

Friday, February 3, 2017

Feb 3rd

This week in writing we wrote about goals and related them to a Chinese Proverb of planting a tree. WE also wrote winter poems. We are nearing the end of our double digit subtracting with regrouping and will be taking the test sometime this week. Please take a moment to check how well your child understands this concept.  We are starting a unit on “The Presidents- George Washington and Abraham Lincoln” and the study of the continent Antarctica.  I have not sent any extra credit homework home in a while. If you are interested will you please circle the yes or no below.   I have signed up all students for a Parent Teacher Conference slot. If these times don’t work out for you I would love to have a phone conference or 

Friday, January 27, 2017

Jan. 29


We are in the middle of our subtracting with regrouping math unit. For some children it is very hard. Please take sometime and check to see how your student is doing with regrouping 2 digit subtraction problems.  We made a collage of a winter forest for art this week. It went right along with our guided reading book that talked about the Rocky Mountains and the different levels of trees and animal life.  We had our feast of fried rice, noodles and won tons with sweet and sour sauce. We watched a power point of Mrs. Kitchen’s trip to China and Thailand. We were also very lucky to have Truman's dad came and talked to us about Russia. We will finish our unit on the continent Asia this week. Please sign up for Parent Teacher Conferences. I really love to visit with every parent. I love teaching your children.

Friday, January 6, 2017

Jan. 6th


We have had a great start to the year 2017.  We have started a unit on Human Rights by experimenting on how it feels to not be allowed drinking water in class. We also are starting units on Matter and the continent Asia. In math we have been working on regrouping 2 digit numbers and in reading our focus has been on expository text about weather and using text features as a comprehension strategy.